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Method To Madness
In the kingdom of the Wiki King
By Patricia Evangelista
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:31:00 08/22/2010
Filed Under: Social Issues, Laws, Abortion
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THE DEBATES were fierce during the 1987 drafting of the Philippine Constitution. In defining state policies for the protection of the family, especially with regard to the unborn child, Catholic conservatives campaigned for wording that would protect the unborn from “the moment” of conception.
It was the word “conception” that proved troublesome for the commissioners. When did life begin? In the absence of a consensus, the commissioners decided to leave it to science, and concluded with what reads now as Section 12. The State shall equally protect the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from conception.
The debate stands until today, fanned again by recent efforts to decriminalize abortion. The sons of the Church claim all abortion is immoral, including the termination of a partially fertilized egg. Advocates of decriminalization and contraception disagree. Former Health Secretary Alberto Romualdez, whose administration under Joseph Estrada demanded post-abortion care for all women in government hospitals, says that there is a range of opinion in the medical world defining conception. That spectrum runs the gamut from the implantation of the fertilized egg into the uterus, to the point when organs have been completely formed, to the final merging of chromosomes more than 48 hours after fertilization, to the point where the fetus is viable outside the womb—usually at five months according to a number of doctors. And yet to speak of abortion and contraception demands a basic definition of what conception is.
“The number one definition of conception is as follows: the union of the sperm and the ovum, which is synonymous with fertilization, that is the medical definition of conception and that is how I define a conception also in my bill.”
This answer to a question that has fired decades of debates comes from Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez, “recognized as one of the best debaters in the House of Representatives with his participation in the Charter change, impeachment and budget debates,” who “has been a consistent awardee as One of the Most Outstanding Congressmen of the country from various magazines and organizations,” a man who was a consistent scholar in the 1970 Superintendent’s List of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis and is the “undefeated brigade boxing champion for four straight years in the United States Naval Academy.” The five-term congressman “was the first to receive the Tony Rubino Boxing award,” and graduated number one in his pursuit of his Master’s degree in Business Administration in the University of the Philippines.
The gentleman from Parañaque is proposing House Bill 13, “An Act Providing for the Safety of the Unborn Child and for Other Purposes.”
“The most major element here,” he says, “is the definition of conception. What is conception?”
The explanatory note for House Bill 13 promises to extend the “mantle of legal recognition” over the unborn by offering basic concepts and the concept of fetal development, “defined and clarified.”
In his presentation, which he says will be documentary evidence when he makes his case for House Bill 13 in the House of Representatives, “the moment of conception” is: “If a sperm cell meets and penetrates an egg, it will fertilize the egg. The fertilization process takes about 24 hours. When fertilization happens, changes occur on the surface of the egg to prevent other sperm from penetrating it. At the moment of fertilization, the genetic makeup is complete, including the sex of the infant.”
This definition, he says, “is fair medical definition.”
House Bill 13 is supported by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines whose representative calls it “a wonderful law,” as well as by other pro-life groups.
Golez is understandably proud of his work, which finally offers a definition of conception.
“I took it from one of the major medical websites in the Internet, MedicineNet.com, which defines conception.”
The documentary evidence Golez presents, which he very generously offers to anyone interested, has the following quotation taken as a screenshot from MedicineNet.com (We bring doctors’ knowledge to you).
“Conception.
“(1) The union of the sperm and the ovum. Synonymous with fertilization.
“(2) The onset of pregnancy marked by implantation of the blastocyst into the endometrium.
“(3) A basic conception of a situation or principle. From the Latin conceptio. Conceptionis meaning conception, becoming pregnant, drawing up legal formulae; and from the Latin conceptus, meaning conceiving, pregnancy; collecting or a collection.”
The law, he says, “hopes to prevent the systematic abortion of the unborn from the moment of conception through all kinds of substances, IUD for example, contraceptives and—we have a number of definitions here in my house bill.”
He also provides photographic evidence, an illustration, also from MedicineNet.com, from “Conception Pictures Slideshow: The Amazing Journey from Egg to Embryo.” Slide number 5, “Fertilization: Sperm Penetrates Egg,” one of 12 slides documenting conception, provides the specific definition used in his presentation.
As an exact “moment of conception” demands a single moment, and although MedicineNet.com does provide multiple moments, as the “union of the sperm and the ovum,” synonymous to fertilization, occurs several days before “implantation of the blastocyst into the endometrium,” it is difficult to understand why the representative chose the first definition and not the second or third.
His measure, after all, also includes emergency contraception, IUDs, diaphragms and even necessary hysterectomies in a long list of banned items. It is admittedly odd granted that MedicineNet.com’s second definition of the moment of conception is implantation, which should allow emergency contraception and IUDs and anything that prevents implantation.
The representative from the second district of Parañaque is quick to be reassuring.
“That’s why it’s very important to define conception and we have here the definition of conception as defined by the most accepted encyclopedia right now in the world, Wikipedia.”
* * *
Biographical description of the Parañaque congressman from Golez.com. Portions of this interview will be aired on ANC in “Truths: The Women,” Monday at 9:30 p.m.
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